Advantages

Disadvantages

3 weeks away from home and I'm missing mine already...

I really dislike ticking clocks and watches. I wear a digital watch in part because of this (and in part because, y'know, I'm super cool). While I can tolerate traditional clocks in rooms where I don't spend excessive amounts of time, like the kitchen, I would not have one in my bedroom or living room. In the former I tend to have a digital radio alarm, but in the latter I need something a little larger. I bought this model in the Christmas sales in 2004, and it's still going strong.

This clock is rectangular and measures approx 37cm long by 22cm high and 4cm deep. It has both feet and hooks, so you can either stand it up (as I tend to do, on top of some bookshelves) or hang it from the wall. It is quite plain, mainly silver with black digits, meaning it will fit in with many colour schemes that aren't totally Victorian or floral chintz.

This clock has both 12hr and 24 hr modes. It does not show seconds by number, but the : between the digits flashes 60 times a minute instead. The display includes a number of features besides the current time, including the day and date and the temperature. If I were designing it, I would have put the date before then month as per British conventions, but this follows American preferences and has them the other way round. This isn't that annoying and you quickly get used to it, especially as it also has the words 'Month' and 'Date' above the respective numbers so you don't think it's the 10th of August when really it's the 8th of October when . The month and date are displayed as numbers, while the day is abbreviated letters (Mo, Tu, We etc). I rarely look at this clock to find out the date anyway (as my super cool digital watch tells me this) but occasionally I do like to have an idea of the temperature when I'm feeling particularly warm or cold and want to know if I'm just being a wuss or we are having unseasonal weather.

The largest digits on the display are for the time, which take up maybe 2/3 of the room. It is easy to read as the contrast is good but, as with most LCD displays, there is the odd blind spot where you can't quite see the time properly if you're way off centre, and get a flash of the templates in the background. For this reason, I make sure it put it front and centre in my room, directly ahead of where I'll be sitting, so the angle is never a problem.

I have no problems using or adjusting the clock, but my mother tells a different story. She had it for a year while I was in Mexico and she was in my house, and she actually had to hide it away for half a year as she couldn't work out how to adjust the time on it when we changed the clocks... The first time you set the clock, you have to choose the year: this is so it can auto adjust for leap years etc. This is not hard, and neither is changing the time once you know how. Essentially, there are only a few buttons on the back, each with multiple functions, so you have to perform a combination of push and hold, and push and wait, for it to change to the right mode. These are labelled, so you know what to press, but if you didn't know how it was going to work, you might think the wrong bit was flashing.

The clock runs off 3 batteries, and there's a low battery warning that comes up when you need to replace them, though in my experience you can still get several weeks out of it when this starts, so I simply use this as a reminder to buy batteries if I need some. Eventually the display starts to fade, and once it gets to the point where I can't read it easily anymore, I will sort it out. If you remove the old and reinsert the new batteries in quick succession, you also don't have to reset the time and date, as it has an internal memory that will keep these for a few moments. Obviously if you're away and the batteries die a bit before you are able to change them, it will need resetting from scratch.

The clock has a (loud!) alarm feature, but in the advent of radio alarms, phone alarms and my super cool digital watch, I have no need for this. It would also be inconvenient because I stick this clock up high and would have to clamber up to get it down, but could be an option if you have it on your desk or somewhere else in your office. The alarm is best used if you're standing, not hanging, the clock, as the buttons to silence it (and to set it in the first place) are all on the back. The alarm is 1 minute long, can be set to be daily or one off, and also has a 5 minute snooze feature for the lazy asses out there.

The design is sturdy. Mine has been dropped a fair few times, but has not dented, cracked or developed errors. The stand parts are a thick plastic that you pop out of the groves on the back when you want them, and slip back in when you want to pack it away or hang it instead.When I was looking for a digital clock, this was the only model easily available. Many others are now, but I still like this one because of its size (many are much smaller), its display (again, nice and clear because it's big enough) and the fact that it is totally silent. I can lie on my sofa and read without thinking a ticking bomb is about to go off nearby, and for that it is well worth the money.

I bought mine from the Gadget Shop for just under £20, I think. Now your best bet would be to look online. For more information, see: